The Best of Me
by Lariren-Shadow
Summary: The night before his eighteenth birthday Zuko wraps a bandage around his left wrist. He has a country to run and no time for frivolous things. It will make everything easier if he waits. Zutara Soulmates AU


**A/N** : I'm a sucker for soulmates AUs so here's another. And it's a month till my birthday I figured I'd post something.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own.

* * *

The night before his eighteenth birthday Zuko wraps a bandage around his left wrist. He has a country to run and no time for frivolous things. He can wait until Mai's eighteenth birthday to know that they're soulmates. It will make everything easier if he waits.

The next morning is just like any other: he meditates before firebending practice. Later there will be a party but he has work to do before then. After bathing he considers having some food and tea brought to his office when his Uncle bursts into his room, tray in hand.

"Happy birthday, Nephew," he says happily as he sets the tray down. Zuko notes his favorites are there. "I figured this is one of the few days you can't refuse breakfast with me." Zuko only nods and gestures to the table in his sitting room.

As they eat Zuko watches Iroh's eyes go to his wrist. He purposely keeps his left hand below the table, hoping there won't be any questions. It's only hope, however, as Iroh isn't one to let something like this go unnoticed. "Do you not know your soulmate?" His uncle finally asks.

"I don't know," Zuko replies honestly.

"You would know if you-"

"I don't know because I haven't seen it yet and please," he's begging and he knows it, "don't ask me to look."

"Are you afraid of the name that might be there?" Iroh asks.

Zuko only shrugs. "I assume it's Mai's but my council has said, off handedly, they think it would be best for me to marry my soulmate."

"That is possibly one of the most reasonable things they've said."

Zuko snorts. Of course Iroh would think that. "Half of them want it to show the Fire Nation is changing and the other half want it to trick the world into showing the Fire Nation is changing while secretly building our army again. I have enough to deal with with the latter than worrying about a wedding."

He can feel Iroh's eyes looking him over. "When you do look," he says, "I'd like to know."

Zuko nods.

Later, when he's with Mai before his official birthday celebration, she takes his left hand and turns over his wrist. She fingers the end of the bandage. "We can't all be as lucky as Iroh," is all she says. In truth Iroh was lucky: his wife's name appeared on his wrist after their families had signed their marriage contract.

"We could be," he tells her.

"Zuko you wouldn't be hiding this from me if-"

"We'll know in a few months," he says. "On your birthday." She opens her mouth but quickly closes it. He's said the wrong thing and he knows it. "I haven't looked," he amends.

"We'll know on my birthday," she confirms.

It's on the tip of his tongue to tell her about what his council wants but he stops himself. There's still a possibility her name isn't on his wrist. "I should get ready for later," he says instead.

They are content for the months leading up to her birthday. Zuko changes his bandage every week, carefully not looking at the inside of his wrist. On the morning of her eighteenth birthday Zuko arrives at her door with fruit tarts with candied rose petals. In his other hand is a set of throwing knives with dragons carved in the blades.

Mai opens the door but does not invite him in. She holds up her wrist, his name is not on it. "We can still-" he begins.

"I know. Just," she pauses, "not today."

He understands and hands her the gifts. "For you."

Slowly, over the next few months, their romance morphs into a comfortable friendship. Mai introduces him to her soulmate and he approves.

* * *

Katara buys a leather cuff six months before her eighteenth birthday. She starts to wear it everyday and hopes no one will notice when she doesn't take it off.

Of course Aang does notice. "That's new," he says once he returns to the acolytes temple. He's been away for a few months on Avatar business.

"It is," she's happy he's noticed. "I like it."

"Are you going to take it off soon?"

"Why?"

"Well so you can see my name," he says honestly.

She bites her lip because she's wearing this for a silly romantic reason. "Well," she begins, "I'd rather wait. Till you're eighteen. I want us to find out together."

He smiles and gives her a quick peck. "I can wait," he says.

Her birthdays come and go. She cries when Sokka and Suki get married. She doesn't look at her wrist, though she's been tempted a few times when she and Aang had fights. She doubts his name is there, at times, but comforts herself with the knowledge that Sokka and Suki still fight and have their names on each other's wrists (though above Suki's name is Yue's). She wonders if only Aang's name is there or if there's more. She's seen wrists with four names and wrists with none.

At night, curled up in bed, she sometimes traces where she hopes a name is under her cuff. She'll see soon enough, she reminds herself, before turning over and trying to sleep.

* * *

Aang's eighteenth birthday party starts the night before his actual birthday. When asked why the Avatar replies "so at midnight Katara and I can finally know for certain we're soulmates and everyone can celebrate with us."

Katara has spent months planning this and everything is perfect. There are egg custard tarts and fried tofu with spicy dipping sauces. The acolytes even learned some traditional Air Nomad music that they play early in the evening. She dances with Aang, her brother, and finally Zuko, who barely made it on time.

She feels midnight approach and she pulls Aang away from the group of people he's telling about the time he road the elephant koi. "It's almost time," she whispers in his ear.

They make their way to a quiet corner outside of the newly constructed Air Temple. She's helped oversee the construction for almost a year and is happy it was finished in time for Aang's birthday. They sit in the dark and wait.

"It's midnight," she says. She loosens the ties on her cuff. Aang lights a fire in his right hand and hold it over his left.

Her fingers still when she sees his wrist. Her name isn't there. "On Ji?" She questions.

"I...I think that's the girl from the Fire Nation school," he says. "But it has to be a mistake." He's looking at, imploring her to say it is.

"Maybe," she says. She claps her right hand over her left wrist, suddenly protective of the unknown name.

"Let's see if I'm right," Aang says, reaching out to her.

She pulls away and stands. "I want to look on my own," she says before turning and leaving him.

* * *

Zuko waits for Aang and Katara to return like everyone else at the party. There is a possibility it will turn into a wedding. He's put off his own for years, his bandage still in place. His persistence has paid off, in a way. His nation is stable and has budding alliances with countries that were once enemies. But now he's being asked routinely about his soulmate and possible wedding.

He watches Aang return alone, sees him look around, before taking the hand of the nearest acolyte girl and asking for music. Soon he's dancing and Zuko wonders where Katara is. He'd ask Sokka to find his sister but he'd gone to bed earlier under the pretenses of napping before the big reveal. Suki went too, the almost constant exhaustion of pregnancy wearing her down.

Instead he goes to look for his friend. If she's upset, he knows, she'll be by the water. His first instinct is right, she's sitting on the beach, toes just within reach of the tide.

"Go away Aang," she says.

He sits next to her. "I'm not Aang." She sighs and he waits for her to talk. "It's nice out," he says awkwardly.

"I feel like I've wasted my time," she says.

"Why?"

"I'm not his soulmate. I've waited for years to be told that we're supposed to be together, made things work even through doubts. And now it's not Aang."

"You don't have to marry your soulmate," he says.

"No but the Avatar should." She brings her knees to her chest and wraps her arm around them. "And he's not the one here."

"Maybe he's hurt?" Zuko offers.

"Maybe." They sit together and Zuko isn't sure of what else to say. "What about you?" She asks.

"Huh?"

"Who's your soulmate?"

"I don't know."

"How? I'm sure there's someone out there who's trying to contact you saying they're your soulmate. Hasn't anyone done that?" She teases.

He considers her words. There have been a few who've forward claiming to be his soulmate. But they've either poorly tattooed their wrists or the ink bleeds. "I haven't looked."

"In four years?"

"People want me to marry my soulmate and I haven't been ready," he explains.

"You and Aang, marrying whomever is on your wrist," she says softly.

"You were ready to do the same," he says.

"Now I'm not sure."

"Have you looked?" She shakes her head. "Are you scared?"

"No!" She insists. "Are you?"

"A little," he admits. "I could have no one there."

"I'm sure you have a name."

Zuko snorts. "Yeah, because fate has always been kind to me." At that she grabs his left wrist. "What are you-"

"If you won't look then I will. I'll tell you if you have a name or not."

In retaliation he takes her wrist. "Then I'll do the same."

"Zuko you can't see at night," she reasons. He let's go of her momentarily to shot a fireball at a nearby piece of driftwood.

"There, now we can both see properly."

He focuses on her wrist in his hand. He clumsily unties the knots on her cuff, wishing he had two hands for this. He feels a breeze on his skin of his left wrist before her hand closes around it. "Let's look at the same time," Katara says.

"Ok," he says as he let's the cuff fall and covers her wrist. "On the count of three?"

"I'll count. One, two," they're looking each other in the eye, "three." He let's go and looks at her wrist.

A part of him reasons this is impossible or that he's dreaming. He bites the inside of his cheek and the pain reassures him he's awake and that the characters on her wrist, ones he writes at least once a day, are real. He feels her fingers stroke his wrist, caressing her name, he assumes.

"Zuko," she whispers. "You know your soulmate."

He looks up from her wrist. "So do you."

"What do we do now?" She asks.

"I don't know. Do you want to marry me?" He asks. She hits him. "What was that for?"

"I meant about our wrists not about our futures."

"We can go back to hiding them," he offers.

"I don't want to," she says. "I'm done covering my wrist."

"I think I am too," Zuko replies.

* * *

She wakes up to the bottom half of her pants soaked with seawater. Her head is on Zuko's chest and she's hesitant to move it. She lifts her left wrist to her face. His name is still there, just one name on her wrist.

"You're awake," he says.

She sits up. "We should head back."

"Sounds good." They stand and brush the sand off their clothes. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

"Sokka, of course," she replies. She's hesitant to tell Aang but he'd find out anyway. She looks down at her wrist again, thinking of everything she'd imagined she'd do with her soulmate.

"Are you coming?" Zuko asks from a little way up the beach.

"Yes," she calls. She runs to catch up with him and, before she can reason herself out of this, she kisses him. There's no sparks and nothing is suddenly clear but there is a pleasant warmth in her stomach. He looks startled and she's a little pleased with herself.

She takes his hand and starts pulling him up the beach. "Come on, I'll make us breakfast."

* * *

It takes time for everyone to adjust to the idea that Zuko and Katara are soulmates. Sokka readily accepts the fact, he's already insisted on his kid calling Zuko uncle this way it's going to be official. Aang is hurt, for a time, and Katara takes some time to be alone before she makes her way to the Fire Nation.

It's a year before they discuss marriage and another six months before their actually married.

"So is this terrible?" Katara asks Zuko. They're sitting in the kitchen of his (their) beach house on Ember Island, completely alone for their honeymoon.

He's not sure what she means. "What's terrible?"

She smirks. "Being married to your soulmate."

He traces his name on her wrist, a habit he can't break. "So far it's one of the best things I've ever done. You?"

She smiles. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

* * *

 **Reviews are awesome.**


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